If you
think an armed neighbor is a threat to the safety of you and your loved ones,perhaps it is time to think again!

As she prepared for bed on November 18, 2000, Colorado Springs resident Jean
Zamirripa heard noises – noises that sounded like someone trying to break in
through her back door.Aware that a
56-year-old woman and 74-year-old woman in her neighborhood had recently been
raped, the 72-year-old grandmother decided to take no chances.She retrieved the loaded .38-caliber revolver, purchased at a friend’s
insistence, from its hiding place beneath her bed.Barefoot and clad in her nightgown, the retired medical assistant made
her way to the back of her house and braced her elbow on a countertop to steady
her shaking hands.She heard the
storm door open and within an instant, a man was bursting through the back door,
ripping it off its molding.Full of
fear, but prepared to act, Jean held her position as the intruder fell to the
floor.When he at last stood up,
Jean fired.Four shots rang out
from her revolver, 3 of which hit their target.The intruder fled.Jean
reloaded and dialed 9-1-1.

The intruder, Anthony Peralez,
bleeding from two wounds to his arm and one to his abdomen made his way to his
parked automobile.As he raced from
the scene, he hit two parked cars and eventually came to a stop in the parking
lot of a car dealership, where he was found by police and arrested.

As the investigation took
shape in the ensuing days, police became aware of similarities between the
invasion of Jean’s home and the rapes of three other women in the Colorado
Springs area, including the two rapes in Jean’s neighborhood.Through DNA and other evidence, police were able to connect Peralez to
those crimes and on August 22, 2001, Peralez was found guilty of 51 charges,
including sexual assault.Peralez
will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

Immediately following the
break-in Jean told reporters, “I’ve always felt that homeowners should have
the right to have protection.It’s
time people know they can defend themselves from this kind of thing.It doesn’t matter where you live or how old you are.This is how the world is.”Later,
Jean expressed gratitude to her friend Carl Duncan for persuading her to keep a
gun in her home.“Were it not for
him,” she said, “I might not be here.”

Jean’s advice to the rest
of us: “The only thing I could say to anyone is you can never let your guard
down … at any age.”

Good advice.But Jean’s story conveys so much more.Her story clearly illustrates the benefit of armed citizens – armed
neighbors.

In a day and age when
anti-self-defense activists are encouraging their followers to harass,
shame and badger their neighbors into giving up their best means of
self-defense, Jean has used that same means – a gun – to secure safety for
her neighbors and her community.She
has used a gun to rid her community of a terrible threat – a danger to the
health, even the lives, of those living near her.How many women in Colorado Springs can rest easier because of Jean’s
actions?Ten?A hundred?A thousand?More?

If Jean had not had a gun,
what would the outcome of her story be?Would
we be reading about her brutal rape or even her murder?Would Peralez have continued to add to his list of victims?How many more?How many
lives ruined?Should people like
Jean continue to be vilified because they have chosen to own a firearm and are
willing to use it to protect not only themselves, but their families, their
neighbors, even strangers, from those who prey upon us?

Jean Zamirripa is a bona fide
hero.Sgt. Rod Walker, head of the
Colorado Springs Police Department's major crimes unit said of Jean, “She did
everything right and kept her wits about her.She’s a hero, not because she shot someone, but because of all the
clear thinking and everything she did prior to the shooting.”Jean’s actions not only put a career criminal – a serial rapist –
behind bars for good, but protected all of us from any further assaults by this
scum.Anti-self-defense advocates
should thank their lucky stars that people like Jean are still willing to face
danger dead on and stop it.They
should thank her for doing what they cannot, or will not, do – take
responsibility for the protection of themselves and their loved ones.

I have but one question for
the anti-rights activists:If Jean
Zamirripa had not had a gun and had not been willing to use it for lawful
self-defense, who would Peralez have targeted next?You, your mother, your daughter?If
you think an armed neighbor is a threat to your safety, perhaps it is time to
think again.Your life may depend
upon it!

Articles
appearing in The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colorado, on November 23, 28,
December 1, 29, 2000, February 6, 2001 and August 15, 16 and 23, 2001 were used
in the preparation of this article.

Annie's
articles may be disseminated for non-commercial purposes as long as credit
(including our Web address) is given to The Cody Express.

QUOTES
TO REMEMBER

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands? — Patrick Henry, 3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836

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